Everything on the first floor is a bust and we’re doing one last sweep through the second when three enforcers pop out of Ness’s old supplies closet.
“There he is!”
I blast the ceiling lamps to slow them down and while we’re cloaked in darkness, we sneak into a classroom.
“I have an idea.” Ness takes a deep breath and begins morphing—his brown skin goes pale, he inches a little taller, his hair becomes curlier, and his face becomes mine.
“No.”
“They want you, right?” he asks, his voice unchanging. “I’ll lead them away from you while you check the last couple of rooms. But if Brighton isn’t here, you have to grab Gravesend and leave. Promise me.”
“No, this won’t work, I—”
“Promise me, firefly!”
I put my face in my hands as terror squeezes me and I nod a promise.
Doors are being kicked down nearby, and watching Ness boldly run while wearing my face feels a lot like watching myself being so unlike myself in Brighton’s videos. Spells light up the hallway as they pursue Ness and when the coast is clear, I check the remaining classrooms and closets, but Brighton isn’t here. Gravesend’s song has only gotten louder in these emptied halls and a figure steps out of the darkness—June.
Her face is bruised and covered in dried blood. She looks to the roof.
No.
I run, but she’s faster, fading in and out several feet at a time. She’s inches from me on the way up the steps, but when I lunge, she’s gone, and I fall hard on my chest. I force myself back up, and when I reach the roof, Gravesend is inside June’s arms. I run so fast I almost trip over myself, I have to get ahold of her, but June sinks through the floor, and Gravesend’s cries vanish.
“NO!”
I hold myself up by the ledge, and that’s when I see enforcers carrying Ness—unconscious and with no glamour. They load him into the back of an armored truck, and once it takes off, all the enforcers return to their tanks and follow, even though they never got me.
Except maybe they were never here for me. Maybe it’s Ness they wanted all along.
I don’t know how they knew he’s alive, but between losing him and Gravesend and not knowing where the hell Brighton is, I feel so lost.
My fiery gray and gold wings burst into life, painfully, and I leap over the edge, praying to the Crowned Dreamer above that my brother will be home waiting for me.
Forty-Two
Eduardo Iron
NESS
I don’t feel right when I wake up.
This room is unfamiliar, but it’s not tough to figure out I’m on a boat—a life jacket sits in a corner, framed pictures of an anchor line the cabin’s wall, the floor is wobbling, and the smell of salt water fills the small space. I just don’t know whose boat.
My lower back stings from the enforcer’s stunning spell. Someone left me on the floor even though there’s a perfectly fine white leather couch. I get up and immediately topple over, banging into the floor and shouting. The door opens. There’s time to morph, but there’s no point. The owner of this boat knows who I am. I don’t have much in the way of weapons, but I grab a marine biology textbook off the shelf because it’s a lot heavier than my fist. My grip loosens immediately when the light catches the man’s face.
The Senator. His suit is crisp, and his black hair is slicked back, and I never understood how someone who devotes so much energy to hating celestials can find the time for all this maintenance. But he always did say that appearances are everything.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” the Senator says, adjusting his glasses. He’s not even looking me in the eye.
“You’re supposed to be happy I’m alive.”
The Senator reviews the remaining books on the shelf. “Yes, well, unfortunately your life puts me in a tricky situation this close to the election.”
“Are you serious?”
“Quite. I’ve put years into this campaign.”